The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1887-06-01
RAPID RAILROAD BUILDING.
me Manitoba Company Pushing Westward
~ the Rate Of Five Miles Day--Sl&
Thousand Six Hundred Men
and 5000 Teams at Work
How They are Fed.


bevond this point, and eighty miles west
,tvinot. the traveller finds himself at
r,bat railroad men call 'the 'front.'" or the
III If the track of the extension which
40 Manitoba railroa ad company is now
.,oEinc to Great Falls, Montana. To
sDoak more accurately, this was the end
oftbe track yesterday, but tonight that
nont will be five miles further westward,
ond by tomorrow yet five miles further.
From MinOt here the work has been in
r,ogress since the first week in April.
from now on it is proposed to complete
Ave miles of track each day, thus achiev-
inc the greatest feat ever accomplished in
be way OF rapid railway construction.
From here to Fort Buford the distance is
little over 80 miles, and it is the inten-
fOn to have the road open to that point
hv June 1st. Thence to Great Falls the
distance is 403 miles, and trains will in all
nrobabIity be running to that point before
he middle of September.
tcan readily be surmised that the ac-
conpishment Of this gigantic. enterprise
n0gses little less than an army Of work.
sr. and that is what one finds here. The
number of men now at work is $500, and
the number of teams 5000. With this
force, it is hardly to De wondered that the
dirt is flying at a lively rate. From here
to seventy miles beyond Fort Buford
there is one unbroken line of graders
camps. Fifty of these camps can be seen
from one point some distance be-
gOnd White Earth. By June 1st between
100000 and 100000 cubic yards of
earth will have been taken out, and by the
time Great Falls is reached the amount
will aggregate not far from 10,GOO,0OO On
the Canadian Pacific during the whole
summer the amount of earth handled
was only 6 $500, 900 cubic yards, and this
was considered remarkable piece of
work. A few figures may serve to give a
clearer conception of what is involved in
the construction of five miles of railway
track in one day. A rail is 80 feet long,
and there are consequently 352 to the
mile, or ,76O to every five miles. AS
each rail weighs 900 pounds, the amount
Ofsteel handled in one day aggregates l.
O56,000 pounds. 1t takes 2,640 ties to the
mile, or 13, 200 per day. Thirty-six 200
pound kegs Of spikes are used to the mile.
There are thirty two @'spikers" to every
five miles Of track, each man Of whom
drives $40 spikes day, which, at the av-
erage of three blows to the spike, gives
$40 blows per man per day. A mile of
.ails takes !, ,40S bolts. which are handled
)y IA "bolters,'' o" 503 each per day. To
void delays in the progress of construc-
ion by reason of rough couLtry, it is the
of the contractors to work five
,angs of men in five-hour reliefs during a
portion of the time. Work will begin at
o'clock in the morning, and the dark
ness will be scattered by thousands of
orches.
With such an army of men and teams at
work far from the centers of civilization,
and in totally unproductive country, it
can be readily seen that the task of secur-
Ing and distributing supplies is one of
enormous magnitude. Indeed, there is
little doubt that greater executive ability
II required in this than in almost any
Aqher department of railroad construction
+ Snthe far west. Here at White Earth is,
t@he present, the headquarters of the
supply train, consisting to-day of twenty
cars filed with every conceivable thing
recessary for man and beast. There is
grain, -four, canned goods of all sorts,
ONtter, hams, sugar, wagons, harness,
hows, boots and shoes, pipes and tobacco,
n tact, nothing is lacking. Every day
eees big hole made in the stock, and
Every day sees the hole replenished by in
Eolhng trains. Day before yesterday
Y''oVV bushels of oats were sent out
lpy wagon and yesterday 5000 BUSH
F'7, all for distribution along the
lie lor distance of forty miles. From
ieie on the trail along the line is marked
" one continuous stream to the various
amps. The other day herd of 40 head
II cattle was driven in and it seemed that
Raefe at least was enough meat for some
'uie 70 come. A rapid calculation, how
F'eF, showed that it would furnish only
Apoout ten pounds to the man. Already
8'0'VO0 pounds of flour and 800 900 bushels
oats have been purchased. Lovers of
'Aed beans will learn with alarm that the
#appIy of that luxury is about exhausted.
e'ter just received from one of the lar
~ Wholesale firms of st. Paul states that
], 'Ae demand is to continue throughout
~ summer as large as it now is, ii will be
N'esSary TO import from Europe. They
~ 'tiey have now seured all the beans !
at can be found in the United states, and
lat Chsy have only enough to last this
8fmy for two months.
another interesting faafuro OF Ill, .;,